Christianity in Korea

From the publisher’s website:

Despite the significance of Korea in world Christianity and the crucial role Christianity plays in contemporary Korean religious life, the tradition has been little studied in the West. Christianity in Korea seeks to fill this lacuna by providing a wide-ranging overview of the growth and development of Korean Christianity and the implications that development has had for Korean politics, interreligious dialogue, and gender and social issues.

The volume begins with an accessibly written overview that traces in broad outline the history and development of Christianity on the peninsula. This is followed by chapters on broad themes, such as the survival of early Korean Catholics in a Neo-Confucian society, relations between Christian churches and colonial authorities during the Japanese occupation, premillennialism, and the theological significance of the division and prospective reunification of Korea. Others look in more detail at individuals and movements, including the story of the female martyr Kollumba Kang Wansuk; the influence of Presbyterianism on the renowned nationalist Ahn Changho; the sociopolitical and theological background of the Minjung Protestant Movement; and the success and challenges of Evangelical Protestantism in Korea. The book concludes with a discussion of how best to encourage a rapprochement between Buddhism and Christianity in Korea.

Robert E. Buswell, Jr. holds the Irving and Jean Stone Endowed Chair in Humanities at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he is also Distinguished Professor of Buddhist Studies in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures and founding director of the university’s Center for Buddhist Studies and Center for Korean Studies.

Timothy S. Lee is assistant professor of the history of Christianity and director of the Asian (Korean) Church Studies Program at Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University.

Contents

Introduction | Robert E Buswell Jr and Timothy S Lee

PART ONE: Overview

Chapter 1. A Quarter-Millennium of Christianity in Korea | James Huntley Grayson

PART TWO: The Beginnings of Christianity in Korea

Chapter 2. Human Relations as Expressed in Vernacular Catholic Writings of the Late Choson Dynasty |  Cho Kwang
Chapter 3. Kollumba Kang Wansuk, an Early Catholic Activist and Martyr | Gari Ledyard
Chapter 4. Chinese Protestant Literature and Early Korean Protestantism | Sung-Deuk Oak

PART THREE: Christianity, Nationalism, and Japanese Colonialism

Chapter 5. Church and State Relations in the Japanese Colonial Period | Wi Jo Kang
Chapter 6. Cradle of the Convenant: Ahn Changho and the Christian Roots of the Korean Constitution |  Jacqueline Pak
Chapter 7. Preaching the Apocalypse in Colonial Korea: The Protestant Millennialism of Kil San-ju | Chong Bum Kim
Chapter 8. Mothers, Daughters, Biblewomen, and Sisters: An Account of “Women’s Work” in the Korea Mission Field | Donald N. Clark

PART FOUR: Christianity and the Struggles for Democracy and Reunification

Chapter 9. Carrying the Torch in the Darkest Hours: The Sociopolitical Origins of Minjung Protestant Movements | Paul Yunsik Chang
Chapter 10. Minjung Theology’s Biblical Hermeneutics: An Examination of Minjung Theology’s Appropriation of the Exodus Account | Wonil Kim
Chapter 11. Korean Protestants and the Reunification Movement | Yi Mahn-Yol.
Chapter 12. The Division and Reunification of a Nation: Theological Reflections on the Destiny of the Korean People | Anselm Kyongsuk Min

PART FIVE: Growth and Challenges

Chapter 13. Sibling Rivalry in Twentieth-Century Korea: Comparative Growth Rates of Catholic and Protestant Communities | Donald Baker
Chapter 14. Modernization and the Explosive Growth and Decline of Korean Protestant Religiosity | Byong-Suh Kim
Chapter 15. Beleaguered Success: Korean Evangelicalism in the Last Decade of the Twentieth Century | Timothy S. Lee
Chapter 16. In Search of Healing: Evangelical Conversion of Women in Contemporary South Korea | Kelly H. Chong
Chapter 17. The Christian-Buddhist Encounter in Korea | Kang-Nam Oh

A Select Bibliography for the Study of Korean Christianity